Hello to our wonderful Country Kids OT community!
We are so excited to share with you our first email newsletter! We hope this will be a more accessible and convenient way to update you on new things happening at Country Kids OT, and share educational resources that we hope will be helpful.
Can you believe we are nearly at the end of 2024?! How the year has flown by! It has been a big year for Emily and the Country Kids OT team. With a brand-new space to call our own, new staff and new clients and families, it has been an amazing year. We truly appreciate everyone’s support and feedback as we continue to grow. Thank you! 🙂
Some Housekeeping…
Christmas Closure Dates: Country Kids OT will be closed from 22th December until 15th of January. On the 15th of January, Zoee and Lucy will be back in clinic for any school holiday appointments and admin staff will be available for any communication. Emily will be back on the 21st of January.
School holiday appointments: Emily, Lucy and Zoee will be available for school holiday appointments within the above dates. School holidays are a great time to book a catch-up session if your child missed some appointments during school, or they may be due for a re-assessment. If it has been 12 months or more since your child was assessed by Emily, we generally recommend a re-assessment to revisit your child’s goals and progress to ensure they are getting the best suited therapy for them.
Finally, we would like to introduce a temporary new team member, Holly! We were lucky enough to have Holly complete her occupational therapy placement with us in September, but we couldn’t say goodbye to her just yet! Holly will be working as an OT assistant filling in for Lucy while she is away on placement in Mt Gambier.
Tips for the end of the year:
As we approach the end of the school year, it can be a very exciting and fun time but with all this excitement, new activities and change in routine, some children may find it all very overwhelming and stressful. We wanted to share some tips to help the transition period go a little smoother:
- Try to keep your child’s routine outside of school as familiar and consistent as possible. Consistent bedtime/wake up times, foods etc. It may not be the best idea to implement new routines or activities at this time.
- Talk to your child in advance about the changes that may be happening during the last few weeks of school – new activities, excursions etc. Create a count-down calendar with the ‘special’ days marked so that your child can know if it will be a normal school day or a special one.
- Saying goodbye to teachers and friends can be hard. Help them to write thank you cards and/or wrap presents for their teachers or other special people. Organise playdates with their friends for the school holidays. You could even put together a photobook or scrapbook of photos from the school year so they have something to look back on.
- Celebrate your child’s achievements! Getting through the school year can be particularly challenging for children with additional needs. Let them know how proud you are of them for trying their best and facing the challenges that the school year brings. This could be by planning a fun activity, giving them a small gift or simply telling them.
Check out our latest blog post:
Christmas can also be a stressful and overwhelming time for most people, but it may be particularly difficult for your neurodivergent child. We have written a blog post with tips to navigate the festive period with neurodivergence or additional needs. In a nutshell, let go of the expectations of others (and your own) about what Christmas “should” look like and prioritise the comfort and happiness of your family! 🙂 You can read the full blog post here
We hope everyone has an exciting end of term, and a restful Christmas period with loved ones. We can’t wait to see what 2025 has in store for us!
–Emily, Zoee, Lucy, Kate, Fleurette and Genevieve